GUEST at dinner table with friends:
Friend "GUEST, Please pass the butter."
GUEST: "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU %#*& - YOU'RE NOT MY MOTHER."
(Sorry - either that post by the cookie-tossing guest was a poor excuse for a troll, a severe knee-jerk response to perceived authority, or completely clueless...possibly all three. In any case, it was funny.)

It seems most people here either understand or are trying to understand. There will always be those who think they must always excercise their rights to do or say something, despite knowing they'll hurt people. They think they have enough reason to do this. They have a right to ignore people's feelings, call people names, and be generally mean. I have a right to think they're losers. Believe me, I'll exercise THAT right.

Lena, your post was very eloquent. "We have met the enemy, and they are us." (Who said that? Walt Kelly?) No one wants to believe they're capable of the sort of things the supporters of the Nazis condoned and the Nazis themselves did. No one wants to look in a mirror and see the sort of person who's capable of treating their fellow humans like meat. Some look into mirrors, and keep a watchful eye for signs of the enemy. Some condemn all mirrors as evil.